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**Federal antitrust regulators have granted agribusiness giants Bayer and Monsanto permission to merge after the two companies agreed to spin off $9 billion worth of assets, the largest sale of corporate assets ever required by the DOJ.

According to the Washington Post, under the proposed settlement, Bayer will sell its seed and herbicide businesses to a third party, German chemical company BASF.

The $66 billion deal already has received approval from regulators in the European Union, Russia and Brazil, making the U.S. approval one of the last major hurdles.

**More financial burden is on the way in agriculture and rural America with interest rates marching steadily higher.

Since 2015, the Federal Reserve has been nudging interest rates higher following years of historically low rates, but now, with The Fed’s rising rates and monetary tightening, rural America will be faced with increased interest expense, in addition to other costs.

According to CoBank, higher interest expense will be another burden affecting farmland purchases and operating loans.

**Missouri might be the first state to enact legislation that requires labeling of plant-based and lab-grown meat to be clear when compared to meat from livestock.

Missouri State Sen. Sandy Crawford tells Agweb.com, meat currently has definition in the statute and that hasn’t changed, but what they “added teeth to” was labeling so that the definition of meat isn’t misrepresented.